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drill-srs

A CLI program for learning things through spaced repetition.

Features

  • CLI (ideal for tmux+ssh)
  • Multiple decks
  • No configuration needed
  • Colorful tags
  • JSON exports/imports for easy deck manipulation
  • HTML reports

screenshot

Installation

In the console run:

pip install drillsrs

...or, to install the latest version:

git clone https://github.com/rr-/drill
cd drill
pip install . --upgrade

Then run drill-srs to see the available commands.

How to use

Flashcards are organized in decks, so that you can study multiple subjects at once. To start studying, first create a deck and populate it with cards manually or through an import.

Each "study session" will then display the cards to memorize. Following the study, you'll be invited to a "review session" of all cards shown so far, where your answers will affect how often a given card will be shown for re-evaluation. A correct answer increases the card's score by 1, while a mistake decreases its score by 1.

This is how the score translates into the re-evaluation delay:

Card score Wait time
0 none (just after the study session)
1 1 hour
2 3 hours
3 8 hours
4 1 day
5 3 days
6 1 week
7 2 weeks
8 1 month
9 2 months
10 4 months

For example, if you answered the given card correctly thrice (score 3) and now made a mistake (score is 2 now), this card will re-appear after 8 hours. The score can't fall outside the range in the table.

Such review system reinforces the quality of the memorization.

Questions

Q: Why not anki?
A: I like anki, but there's no CLI version I could use remotely, so I decided to roll my own simple program.

Q: Why not SuperMemo or other better algorithms?
A: These are cool, but I wanted drill to stay simple. Additionally, the system used by drill is very similar to the one used by wanikani.com, which I hold in very high regard.

Q: Why drill-srs rather than just drill?
A: There's already drill package on Python Package Index and then there's drill, the DNS lookup tool. I chose the name drill before considering making the repository public and that name has sticked with me ever since, so after I decided to publish the program, rather than changing it to something completely different I added -srs suffix (that stands for spaced repetition software).